Mammography is the process of obtaining x-ray images of the human breast for diagnosis or surgery. It involves positioning a patient's breast in a desired orientation against a cassette holder (also known as a “bucky”) of a mammography unit, compressing the breast with a compression device (e.g., a compression paddle), and then exposing the breast to x-rays to create a latent image of the breast on an image receptor. After exposure, the compression device is released.
Typically, the compression device is a compression paddle, which includes a rectangular flat plate that is attached to the mammography unit between an x-ray tube assembly and the bucky. The edges of the paddle are usually turned upward away from the bucky to provide a smooth curved surface for patient comfort. The compression paddle is usually made of thin, light-transparent, plastic that absorbs only a small fraction of the incident x-ray beam. The compression paddle is moved either manually or by power drive to apply a compression force to the breast, thereby limiting breast motion and flattening the breast against the cassette holder to a near uniform thickness to improve image quality. U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,583 issued to the present inventor discusses methods and apparatus for measuring compression force in mammography. During compression, parts of the patient's body come into contact with the compression paddle. After x-ray exposure, the compression force is released for patient comfort.
Angiogenesis plays an important role in the development of breast carcinoma. The use of contrast and molecular imaging agents to detect and/or treat breast cancer also relies on breast vascularity. Unfortunately, traditional mammography systems that exert static compression force on a breast that is positioned between a bucky and a compression paddle are incompatible with studies relating to blood flow during mammography screening, as the static compression force at least partially interrupts blood flow within the breast.
There have been increasing efforts among medical practitioners, analysts, and statisticians to create databases that include compilations of information relating to observation, assessment, and treatment of patient findings, and that permit physicians to refer to such information while performing a diagnosis or selecting an appropriate therapy regimen. Examples are the American College of Radiology (ACR) Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System Atlas (BI-RADS® Atlas) and their National Mammography Database (NMD).
However, recent studies have revealed that although mammograms are not typically recommended for women under the age of 40 (at least partly because the density of the breasts of such women are thought to interfere with the accuracy of mammograms, which rely on variations in tissue density to aid in the detection of possible tumors), the vast majority of breast cancers in young women would have been detectable with mammography, MRI, or both, yet in most cases, imaging was not performed prior to diagnosis. See Brown, Anthony J., MD, Breast Cancer Diagnosis Often Delayed in Young Women, Reuters Health, Apr. 4, 2009. Thus, traditional mammograms and databases that include information pertaining to this and other traditional methodologies do not address the inherent limitations of mammograms in younger women. Furthermore, mammograms, MRI, and ultrasound each constitute relatively costly measures for obtaining a routine diagnosis of breast health. Especially under any new health care regime such as that currently under debate among American legislators, low-cost measures for effectively diagnosing patient health would be highly regarded.
There remains a need for further systems, techniques, and databases that permit the study of breast vascularity pursuant to a cost-effective assessment of breast health among women of all ages.